Is the animated movie sensation KPop Demon Hunters a unicorn or the beginning of a beautiful new friendship between Netflix and theater owners?
Most in Hollywood are betting on the former despite the fact that a special two-day sing-along event of the hit animated movie grossed a chart-topping $17 million to $18 million from 1,700 North American theaters over the Aug. 22-24 weekend, according to estimates provided early Monday by exhibition sources and rival studios with access to certain data. On Sunday, estimates were slightly higher, or $18 million to $20 million (one source continues to believe Demon Hunters tracked down close to $19 million).
But since Netflix — which has had a turbulent relationship with exhibitors — doesn’t report box office, no one will ever know the actual number, nor will the film be included on Comscore’s official box office chart (Comscore is the official receptacle for box office grosses, and must abide by its client’s wishes).
Instead, New Line and Warner Bros.’ horror sensation Weapons is listed as the official winner of the Aug. 22-24 frame with $15.4 million from 3,631 cinemas in its third outing for a horrifyingly impressive global cume of nearly $200 million, or $199.2 million, through Sunday.
Either way, the sing-along was a brilliant move on the part of Netflix in continuing to promote Demon Hunters and keep its subscribers happy, as well as make a play for new subs (the film is virtually guaranteed to spawn a franchise). Sources say cinemas were only allowed access to the sing-along on Saturday and Sunday, prompting speculation that Netflix used the theatrical event as a marketing stunt in advance of dropping the same sing-along version on the service. They were right. Hours after this story published, Netflix announced the sing-along version would hit the streamer on Monday.
Since debuting in June on the streamer, KPop Demon Hunters — produced by Sony Pictures Animation and costing $100 million to produce — transformed into a cultural phenomenon. It’s within shouting distance of becoming No. 1 on Netflix’s all-time list of most watched English-language films after already soaring to the top of the animated list, while its soundtrack has spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart, with several of its songs, led by “Golden,” also shooting to the top of the charts.
Only AMC Theatres, the country and world’s largest circuit, refused to play the sing-along in keeping with its general policy of not playing movies that are in the home. Regal Cinemas and Cinemark — the country’s two largest circuits behind AMC Theatres — along with Alamo Drafthouse and numerous other circuits were all game to grab a piece of the action, considering the summer box office is ending on a low note.
The film’s clever, original storyline centers on the adventures of Huntr/x, a trio comprised of K-pop superstars Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zooey (Ji-young Yoo) who use their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet — an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans directed the animated feature for Sony Pictures Animation, based on a screenplay by Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Kang and Appelhans. The project ultimately landed at Netflix as part of a larger deal with Sony Pictures.
Netflix movie chief Lin recently told THR that Netflix is always “looking for powerful new stories, refreshing new voices and daring new approaches” in their films. “KPDH is a perfect example of this approach,” he says, adding that he and Netflix’s head of animation, Hannah Minghella, are “thrilled to be supporting Maggie and Chris as filmmakers and Kristine Belson and her team at Sony Animation” as their studio partner (Minghella used to work with Belson at Sony).
Apple Original Films also made box office headlines over the weekend, as Joseph Kosinski’s sleeper summer blockbuster F1: The Movie zoomed past the $600 million mark globally to finish Sunday with a global cume of $603.4 million. Unlike Netflix, Apple is now working closely with theater owners in committing to release select titles for a traditional theatrical run, such as F1, which has become Brad Pitt’s biggest film of all time. It’s also the top-grossing sports pic of all time, according to the filmmakers.
Without its own distribution apparatus in place, Apple must rely on third-party partners to release its titles. In the case of F1, it was Warners. At the beginning of the year, the studio’s film empire was struggling badly but has since made a remarkable comeback under the leadership of Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. Movies feeding the boom include A Minecraft Movie, Sinners and, most recently, Weapons (it also gets to take a certain amount of credit for F1‘s success, which it helped market in addition to distributing). No one could have predicted that F1 would earn virtually as much as DC Studios and Warner Bros.’ Superman, which crossed the $600 million mark on Friday. The superhero pic, directed by DC Studios co-head James Gunn, finished Sunday with $604.5 million.
Overseas, Weapons earned another $13.2 million for a foreign tally of $83.5 million. Its domestic total is $115.9 million.
According to Comscore’s domestic chart — which doesn’t include Demon Hunters — Disney’s Freakier Friday held at No. 2 in its third outing with $9.2 million from 3,675 locations for a global cume of $112.3 million.
Marvel and Disney’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps came in third domestically with $5.9 million for a tepid worldwide tally of $490.1 million.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys 2 rounded out the top five with $5.1 million from 3,288 theaters. Its global haul is $149.1 million.
Among new nationwide offerings, Focus Features’ specialty pic Honey Don’t! opened in eighth place with $3 million from 1,300 locations. While it was in line with expectations, it’s still a poor start for a film directed by Ethan Coen. Starring Margaret Qualley from a script he wrote with Tricia Cooke, his wife, the film follows a small-town private investigator trying to solve a series of deaths tied to a mysterious church. Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner and Chris Evans co-star.
Bleecker Street’s indie pic Relay, a gritty corporate whistleblowing thriller from director David MacKenzie, also struggled in its debut. Starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James and Sam Worthington, the movie opened in tenth place with $1.9 million from 1,483 theaters.
In what may have been a case of bad timing, A24’s debut of the English-language version of the Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 fell flat, debuting to just $1.5 million from 2,208 theaters to fall outside of the top 10 chart. Not that the movie is hurting overall — the family film is the top-grossing title of 2025 so far with more than $2.2 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
Box office pundits say the dubbed version, voiced by Michelle Yeoh, was likely dinged by Demon Hunters. But the bigger reason could be that the original version of the film already played in North America, earning more than $21 million earlier this year.
Aug. 24, 10:50 p.m.: Updated with additional details about sing-along event hitting Netflix.
Aug. 25, 11:45 p.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
